Murray faces giant obstacle in Karlovic clash

Bad puns about tall orders and dizzy heights can be used liberally today when Andy Murray plays Ivo Karlovic in the third round of the Pacific Life Open in California. Karlovic is six foot ten in his stocking feet. He is also rather good at tennis.

Murray made the semi-finals in Indian Wells last year and must defend those ranking points in order to stay in the top 10, a situation made more pressured by the fact that he has a similar tally of points to defend at his next event, the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Though Murray has beaten Karlovic in their only previous encounter - in the final of San Jose just over a year ago - he did so only with the aid of a third set tiebreaker, the sword by which the giant Croatian lives and dies.

"Pretty much all of his matches are roughly 50-50 matches," said Murray. He can beat some of the best players and lose to guys that you expect him to win against purely because the match can come down to three or four points."

Providing Murray beats Karlovic, his path beyond him was eased a little by Andy Roddick's defeat on Monday. However, Roger Federer remains as a potential quarter-final opponent and it appears his demise as the dominant force in men's tennis may have been somewhat exaggerated. "I think a lot was made of him not reaching a final of a slam for about the first time in three years," said Murray, who beat the World No1 in Dubai a fortnight ago.

"It was a ridiculous record that he had. He still made semis and supposedly he wasn't feeling good. Last year and in Miami when he lost to Canas, everyone was saying again 'is Federer struggling'? He came back and won three slams. I don't think it's going to be a problem for him getting his form back, I just think that this year might be more difficult because there's more chance of winning against him."

Federer says he is free of the effects of mononucleosis, the virus which he says afflicted him at the turn of the year, and he has also forgiven Murray for beating him in the Middle East, despite his rather grudging post-match remarks about the British No1's game. "I don't think we hate each other," he said.